Twisted Games and Bad Acting
by ranch-kun
Summary: Neji Hyuuga is dead. Or is he? Investigator Sasuke Uchiha is sucked into a twisted game with even more so twisted character as he tries to find the truth behind his friend's murder. He battles to find the answer of Neji's death, and who's behind it. HIATUS. BEING REWRITTEN. CHECK PROFILE FOR MORE INFO.
1. The Note

_Disclaimer: I, Scorn's Child, in absolutely no way have any connection or ownership to Naruto, no matter how much I wish I did. I am simply a slightly-obsessive fan of the show and manga. That is all._

**Chapter one: The note.**

_A bastard's final testimony!_

* * *

><p><em>"In other news, well-known investigator Neji Hyuuga has been found dead in his apartment this morning. Police suspect that Neji Hyuuga was mur-"<em>

Sasuke switched off the radio. Investigator Uchiha Sasuke, head of the investigation department of Konoha's police force, had never been so shocked then when he had found out his partner had been found dead in his own home. How many times had he visited Neji in his home, not knowing it would be the scene of his death?

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Don't worry Neji, I'm on my way." Sasuke said under his breath. As he pulled up to Neji's apartment building, Chouji ran up to his car. The usually cheerful man was now pale and bug-eyed, panting from the long run down the stairs and to Sasuke's car.

"Sasuke, you've gotta see this!" he gasped.

Sasuke stepped out of his car and slammed the door shut. He tossed the valet his car keys and shot Chouji a cool look as he passed him. "Never call me that again, it's Mr. Uchiha to you." he said coldly.

Entering the lobby, he could see the hysterical tenants crowded around the poor,poor teen working at the feeble desk in the corner of the lobby, screaming about the murder.

"What happened!"

"Who?"

"I want to move out immediately!"

"He was my neighbor!"

"The water shut off in my apartment again!"

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke rudely pushed through the crowd near the elevators, earning many dirty looks and complaints which were silenced with chilling stares. He pushed past one man with a ponytail, who simply muttered, 'tch, troublesome' in response. When Sasuke finally managed to squeeze into an elevator, he none-too-politely asked the poor poor man who worked in the elevator to hit the button for level twelve. Of course, this brought up many objections and sharp retorts, as the level had been cut off from the public, and apartment owners were being evacuated from for the time being. The argument however ended when Sasuke flashed his badge at the attendant and he was immediately granted access to the floor. By the time the elevator arrived on Neji's level, Sasuke was beyond irritated and could feel the beginning of a migraine starting behind his eyes. The second he had stepped out he was being swarmed with officers and investigators of all kinds.

"Ah, Sasuke. You've finally , for once I'm on time and you're not, you're behind your game today."

Sasuke turned towards the familiar voice. Kakashi."Good evening, Captain Kakashi. How are you?"Sasuke greeted stiffly, manners in mind. Hatake Kakashi, leaned against the frame of the doorway he was currently standing in, hands casually in the pockets of his slacks. Kakashi chuckled. "Fine, Sasuke , thank you for asking. And I've already told you it's okay just to call me Kakashi."

"Understood. Is there any other reason you've stopped me?"

"Ah yes," Kakashi, replied, pulling up the mask that covered half of his face, easy-going demeanor fading. "I believe Officer Akimichi was sent down after you earlier. We've discovered something...interesting. The other investigators are waiting for you inside the apartment."

Sasuke nodded, face as emotionless as ever. "Yes sir." he saluted.

When Sasuke entered Neji's apartment it was as neat and pristine as usual, except there was something wrong with the scene...

Blood.

Blood soaked the vanilla carpets, stained the white walls, was dried and flaking off the spines of the books on the bookshelf. Police swarmed everywhere, dusting for fingerprints, talking to others, a few rookies who had been assigned to the case just stood there, gaping at the bloody scene. Sasuke walked up behind a young ginger man, who simply gawked in horror around the room, eyes wide and unfocused, sweat rolling down the side of his face. Sasuke put a hand on his shoulder. The man flinched and stared at him. "Sir..." he whispered.

"It's alright, why don't you just step outside for a bit." It wasn't a suggestion, it was a command. The rookie nodded weakly at him, shuffling out of the room with an empty look in his eyes.

"Yo! Sasuke!" Kiba saluted, running up to him. The dog-loving officer had been put on the case with his best hound, Akamaru, to find clues humans couldn't.

"Where's the dobe?" Sasuke asked him immediately. Indeed, there was no hint of his blonde friend to be seen, and Sasuke knew he had been assigned to this case as well. Kiba scratched the back of his head, further ruffling his already matted brown hair. "He was sent back to HQ for a bit because he got so upset after seeing...Neji's body..Captain Kakashi said he needed to calm down.."

Sasuke rolled his course, leave it to the dobe to get over-emotional _for_ him. He hardly spoke to Neji and now he was acting like it was the death of _his _closest friend. Idiot. "Where's the body?" Sasuke demanded.

Kiba ruffled his hair again and avoided looking Sasuke in the eyes. Though he wold never admit it, not even while being beaten to death, Sasuke kind of _scared _him sometimes.

"It was removed from the apartment and taken to a hospital close by shortly after his body was recovered. But...they searched him before sending him off and they found something..A note. Addressed to you." Kiba hesitantly pulled a manilla envelope from his pocket and handing it to Sasuke, before shuffling off awkwardly to discuss the case with a fellow officer.

The manilla envelope had silver lining around the edges, like all of Neji's did. And in the middle in tall, elegant, swooping letters, was Sasuke's name. Sasuke snorted and and smiled grimly at the note. Even when he was about to die, leave it to Neji to still be perfect in every way. He carefully sliced the envelope open, pulling out a sheet of similarly designed paper.

For a second, all Sasuke could do was stare at the paper. He reread it over and over again, wondering if maybe he'd misread something, maybe the rest of the letter was in invisible ink, maybe, maybe...

Maybe Neji Hyuuga was the biggest jackass that had walked the earth.

One sentence, in code no less, graced the paper. One. Sentence.

"Bastard..." Sasuke whispered through gritted teeth.

He reread once more just to be sure, but by now the words were permanently engraved in his mind:

_ A Deer shadows the murder..._

Bastard always did like making Sasuke's life harder for him.

_A/N: Gee, if that note wasn't obvious, you must be the most oblivious person on the planet not to get it. TBC!_

** Next Time, Chapter 2: The Deer, found!**

_ "Heh, took you long enough, Sasuke Uchiha."_

_ "Don't fuck with me! You know what happened to Neji!"_

_ " This bastard, screwing with me…"_

_ "That, is when the game started."_


	2. The Deer, Found!

**Chapter Two: The Deer, Found!**

_Konoha's smartest man? _

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><p>Sasuke looked up, cool as ever, when a stack of folders landed on his desk. He was currently sitting in the break room with others, those others being Kakashi, Naruto, and Kiba. Shino stood before them.<p>

"I've found the deer." he monotoned.

Naruto immediately sat up, blue eyes flashing in the buzzing ceiling lights of the break room. Kiba made a noise of surprise that suspiciously sounded like a bark as he jumped to his feet. Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed. Shino stood there, eyes unreadable behind his round lenses, staring Sasuke down. It was a week into the case, and Sasuke had already assembled a team to personally work on it along with himself, which included Naruto, Kiba, Shino, and Sai. Though Uchiha were claimed to be prideful people, (Naruto insisted he "Had the pride pole way too far up his ass.") Sasuke knew he couldn't solve this case by himself. And he'd be damned if there was a better team assembled out there. He had the force, the brains, and the skill. Not to mention nothing was going to detour him from this case.

"So, you believe this deer is...?" Kakashi drawled, leaning forward on his elbows.

Shino's glasses flashed in the light as he indignantly shoved them up his nose. "I don't believe, I know. The "deer" as you put it, is no other than a Shikamaru Nara. How do I know this, you ask? Because I am head of the information and search departments." he stated blandly, tapping his fingers on top of the pile of folders.

"Shika..maru...Like, the deer?" Naruto asked.

Shino rolled his eyes unseeingly behind his shades. "Yes. Shikamaru Nara, A.K.A. "The Deer" is actually currently residing in Neji's apartment building at the moment, on the same floor, to be exact. Not only does his first name hint at him being "The deer that shadows the murder", but so does his last name, Nara. The Nara's are a deer-herding clan that are popular today in medicines and research. Nara Shikamaru also used to work as an undercover cop, ergo, him "shadowing" the murder of Neji Hyuuga." Shino listed off his theory, before falling silent. It was actually the most he'd said in awhile.

Naruto banged his fist on the table. "The hell are we sitting around here for then? We know this guy has something to do with Neji's death, let's arrest him already!"

Kakashi sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his face. "Impatient as ever, Naruto." he said mildly.

"But Kakashi-"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but we can't exactly burst into Mr. Nara's apartment and arrest him under no real charges." Kakashi explained. Naruto opened his mouth to protest but Sasuke stood up suddenly. All eyes landed on him. "It's a lead, even if Shino is wrong-" he could feel Shino's glare on his back as he walked away from the group. "So were following it. I'm asking Tsunade for permission to investigate this more and then we'll see if maybe we can get some answers out of him." He gazed over his shoulder at the group. "Dobe, Kiba, be ready, and tell Sai to be prepared too." he said cooly. Naruto flopped back into his chair, defeated for now.

"Whatever, Sasuke-teme." he grumbled, Kiba nodded in understanding.

Sasuke wasn't concerned with the actual arresting and questioning of Nara Shikamaru, no, he was more worried with getting _permission _ to do it.

One thing stood in his path.

One _huge _ thing.

One _blonde _ thing.

Tsunade.

Sasuke was the head of the Investigation department, sure, but in order to do anything, he had to get either orders or permission from Tsunade, the head of Konoha's police force. No one would say it, but Tsunade basically ruled the city. Not to her face anyways. Or her back. She was known for her short temper and immense strength, and how she was easily offended by most things.

That was why Sasuke was so worried.

They weren't exactly buddy-buddy.

Sasuke stood outside her door, or as Naruto had nicknamed it, 'The Gateway to Hell', pondering the choice of instead sending one of the rookies in there, in his place. Shaking his head to clear it of pointless thoughts, Sasuke put on his most stoic and emotionless face, silently praying to the god he didn't believe in that Tsunade was in a good mood today. The second he opened the door an office chair came flying out.

God dammit.

Sasuke ducked and nearly escaped a brush with death, as he was sure that chair had been flying twenty miles an hour, ready to decapitate him. He then was pushed into the door frame by a pale faced rookie, who was practically tripping over himself to get out of the office. It looked like someone else had had the same idea as Sasuke, but was stupid enough to go through with it.

Sasuke warily entered the wrecked office, mindful of any flying chairs. Tsunade stood in the middle of the office, already flipping her desk back into its rightful position, and heaving the filing cabinets back to their spots at the walls of the room. Tsunade had looked up moodily when he had entered. "What do you want, Uchiha." she bit frostily.

Sasuke bowed his head, trying to show at least a little respect for the blonde demon. " Ms. Tsunade, I've come to request permission to further investigate the murder of Neji Hyuuga."

Tsunade seated herself at her desk and folded her hands in front of her face, scrutinizing Sasuke. "Neji Hyuuga, he was your partner, correct?" she questioned. Sasuke nodded.

"Very well, assemble a team and do what you have to do." Tsunade said, waving him off. Sasuke blinked in shock, she was giving him permission so easily? Seeing the confused look in Sasuke's eyes, Tsunade chuckled.

"He was your partner right?Avenge him for the Konoha police force, he was one of my top men."

Sasuke smirked. "Will do, Tsunade."

And with that, Sasuke Uchiha strode confidently out of Hell.

* * *

><p>The tension was palpable. Naruto, Sai, Kiba, and Sasuke stood outside of Shikamaru Nara's apartment, guns fully loaded, adrenaline rushing, heart pumping, sweat rolling, end excitement increasing the stakes.<p>

"Alright, Sai, I want you to man the door. Be ready in case this guy tries to make an escape. Try not to kill him." Sasuke ordered. Sai sighed. "Why must you always give me the difficult job…?" Kiba rolled his eyes at this. "Aw, shaddup Sai. So does this mean we're going in with you, sir?" Kiba asked, motioning towards himself and Naruto. Sasuke hummed a yes. "Alright, lets go!" Naruto cheered, only to be smacked on the back of the head by Sasuke.

"Bastard.." he muttered.

The four made their way toward the door, fingers on the trigger of their guns and feet silently slinking across the carpeted hallway floor, their breaths shallow as they approached the door as if it were the plague itself. Sasuke was the first to reach the door. He knocked on it. "That's a little anti-climactic Don't ya think?" Naruto pointed out, only to be smacked once again. The door slowly creaked open. They held their breaths.

Sasuke didn't know what he'd been expecting, maybe a psychotic, skinny, pale kind of guy, or a big beefy slasher or something, but he couldn't help but feel….disappointed?

Standing in the doorway of the apartment was a nicely-muscled man, with lazy half-lidded eyes and spiky black hair that brushed his shoulders and hung in his face. A cigarette hung from his lips. His eyes roamed over the cops before stopping on Sasuke's face. He smirked at him. "Heh, took you long enough, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You must be Shikamaru Nara."

"The one and the only, " he drawled, black smoke wafting from his lips. He pushed the door opened further. "Naruto, Kiba, Sai, I'm sure you'd like to join me and Mr. Uchiha inside?" he yawned, not at all caring about the fact that there were for highly-skilled and deadly officers with fully loaded guns aimed at him. He rolled his eyes at the guns pointed at his chest and head.

"Relax, I'm not going to make a break for it, I have a schedule to keep and a job to do." he muttered.

Warily, the four lowered their guns and followed Shikamaru inside the sizable apartment. When they stepped in they were automatically hit with the stench of cold black coffee and stale cigarettes.

Kiba wrinkled his sensitive nose. The apartment was covered from floor to ceiling with books of all kinds and shelves of knick-knacks and what-nots. Chess boards were propped up on a long table, unfinished games gathering dust. Canvases were propped against the walls, some of famous paintings, others obvious originals. A wind chime rang eerily from the ceiling. A hive of dream catchers swayed. Most of the windows were covered with thick velvet curtains, Sasuke observed.

"Sorry about the mess; I'm actually not."Shikamaru admitted, a black cloud floating from his lips. "Watch the floors, I don't want you guys messing up how everything is set up." he muttered. Peeking down, the floor was layered with many different rugs. He gestured towards a comfortable looking couch. "Have a seat. This may take a bit."

Cautiously, the four sat down, Shikamaru flopping down in a recliner in front of him. "So, how did you find me?" Shikamaru prompted.

"The head of Konoha's information and search departments tracked you down. We suspect you may know something about the death and murder of Neji Hyuuga." Sasuke frowned. He didn't like him for some reason, he seemed too smart for his own good.

"That is because I do. I believe your friend Shino was correct."

Naruto sat forward. "How do you know- Nevermind! What do you know about Neji?"

"Neji Hyuuga. Born July 3rd, Height, 172.l cm, weight- 54.2kg, Blood type-"

"Don't fuck with me! You know what happened to Neji!" Naruto yelled, lunging towards him. Kiba had difficulty restraining the enraged blonde. "N-Naruto! Calm down already! Let him talk!" he yelled over Naruto's death threats. Shikamaru didn't bat an eye. Instead he smirked and leaned forward, propping his head up on his hand. "Naruto Uzumaki. You had a rough childhood, didn't you?" he asked. Naruto stopped struggling against Kiba, and instead glared darkly at the smoker. _This bastard, screwing with me…_Naruto thought. Slowly he lowered himself back down onto the couch.

"Anyways," Shikamaru yawned. Suddenly, the sleepy, cocky man was gone and he was replaced with an alert, serious one. "Neji Hyuuga was found dead in his home at 8:15 a.m., by a neighbor named Ino Yamanaka. The police were contacted at 8:17, since it took the woman two minutes to run back to her own apartment, and phone them. The police force received word at 8:19 two minutes later, as that was how long it took for her to get through. However, Sasuke Uchiha, head of the investigators did not arrive until 2:14 p.m., in which Captain Hatake Kakashi had already arrived on the scene with 13 other investigators."

"What are you trying to prove, that you know our every move?" Kiba snarled.

Sai silenced him. "Continue, Mr. Nara."

"Mr. Nara is my dad, just call me Shikamaru." he sighed, rolling his eyes. "As I was saying, It took Mr. Uchiha exactly 5 minutes to reach the apartment, at 2:19. 3.5 minutes later, you received a manilla envelope from . It was apparently addressed to you, Sasuke Uchiha, found on the body of Mr. Hyuuga. Inside, the envelope was a paper, made of the same material. One corner, the left I believe, was folded. On the paper was one simple sentence; the deer shadows the murder. That, is when the game started. " he finished with a large breath.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "The game?" he questioned. Shikamaru smirked and leaned forward, a mischievous light in his narrow eyes.

"Yes, the game. And I was assigned by Neji to give you your first clue."

Naruto's eyes widened. "N-neji?"

"Y-you mean-?"Kiba gasped.

Shikamaru grinned. "What if I told you Neji Hyuuga was still alive?"

** To Be Continued Next Chapter! Chapter Three: A Game of Life!**

_ "Do you even know if Neji is really dead? Do you even know how he died?"_

_ "I'm sworn silent for now, I'm only supposed to give you your next clue."_

_ "The theatre district?" _

_ "Who are you, un?"_


End file.
